Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio Chris.
Speaker 2: Sims Pro Football Talk Live co host, and you can
Speaker 2: see him on Football Night in America. Give me the
Speaker 2: head scratcher there, of all the moves, all the different signings, Well.
Speaker 3: Uh okay, I mean, I don't know if I got
Speaker 3: head scratchers.
Speaker 4: I got one that surprised me.
Speaker 3: I think the one that surprises me, maybe more than
Speaker 3: any is I did not think I would be sitting
Speaker 3: here Tuesday, after the first day of free agency uttering
Speaker 3: the words j C. Horn highest paid dB in NFL history. Right,
Speaker 3: that one was a little surprising to me.
Speaker 2: Good player.
Speaker 3: I get that, been injured a lot during his career.
Speaker 3: I know they need good defensive players there in Carolina.
Speaker 3: That was an issue, right, But they're paying him like
Speaker 3: he's Pat certain or Sauce Gardner, and he's certainly not
Speaker 3: that and hasn't been able to stay in the field
Speaker 3: that way.
Speaker 4: That to me was a surprising one.
Speaker 3: Again, I'm never gonna get mad at a team for
Speaker 3: signing a guy they like, they drafted, they see potential in.
Speaker 3: But I didn't think, again, it was gonna to be
Speaker 3: the highest paid dB in the history of football that
Speaker 3: was that was surprising, and a lot.
Speaker 2: Of attention goes to the quarterbacks, and rightfully so, but
Speaker 2: this feels like this is the stock up on offensive
Speaker 2: and defensive lineman where it's not going to get headlines,
Speaker 2: but it's going to win you games. It's going to
Speaker 2: get you into the playoffs, it's going to help somebody
Speaker 2: win a super Bowl? Is there?
Speaker 5: That's right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But is there a move that was let's non
Speaker 2: skill level that you would go, wow, that's a big
Speaker 2: upgrade or that that'll be a big difference for this team.
Speaker 3: Well, there's two teams that jump out and they have
Speaker 3: a number of moves, right and the one you were
Speaker 3: kind of you were just making fun of a little bit,
Speaker 3: right with Milton Williams.
Speaker 4: But again, Dan, it's like, the.
Speaker 3: First thing I gotta say is this is how good
Speaker 3: the Eagles are. That they're an all star team. This
Speaker 3: as good of a team as we've seen in a long,
Speaker 3: long time. Right, They're so good they stashed a guy
Speaker 3: that were paying seventeen million dollars a year, was the
Speaker 3: top free agent free agent pass rusher in last year's draft,
Speaker 3: and they said just sit on the bench.
Speaker 4: We're we could just we'll keep you there.
Speaker 3: So I knew and thought all along and said this
Speaker 3: yesterday that Milton Williams between the Cardinals and Jonathan Geddon
Speaker 3: who was in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: Of course Carolina got involved. That was a big deal.
Speaker 3: But further along with what they did there in New England,
Speaker 3: not only the Milton Williams trade, but to get carl
Speaker 3: are signing.
Speaker 4: Get to get Carlton Davis, who is still.
Speaker 3: A damn good corner, and now you got opposite of him,
Speaker 3: Christian Gonzalees. So you got two guys on the outside
Speaker 3: that can shut people down. And Harold Landry, who vrabel
Speaker 3: had history within Tennessee, is.
Speaker 4: Still a really really good football player.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 3: So I look at some of those moves and even
Speaker 3: the Morgan Moses move offensive tackle as going wow, like
Speaker 3: you're saying in the trenches, quality signings there. The Patriots
Speaker 3: certainly improved their team in a big way yesterday. Them
Speaker 3: and the Bears, I thought, really were the ones that
Speaker 3: jumped out to me more than others.
Speaker 6: Dan.
Speaker 2: If you're Aaron Rodgers and you have your choice of
Speaker 2: the into the Steelers, yeah, it's it's Steelers.
Speaker 4: It is us.
Speaker 3: It's the Steelers are at least or Mike Tomlins on
Speaker 3: more solid ground I believe than you know, Brian Dabull
Speaker 3: or Joe Shane. Right, So there's that aspect. You certainly
Speaker 3: can look at the Steelers and go, wait, this is
Speaker 3: a team that's been in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: They get to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're one and done, right, but uh, they're doing
Speaker 3: some things a little differently there. They're making some drastic moves.
Speaker 3: What they traded for DK Metcalf and paid them all
Speaker 3: this money. They usually don't do that type of stuff.
Speaker 3: We know that their defense, they got some disruptors and
Speaker 3: some playmakers there.
Speaker 4: I think that one there.
Speaker 3: You know, if it's apples to apples, there's no doubt
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers would be the team for Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: That means Russell Wilson to the Giants.
Speaker 3: I don't know what it means for the Giants. That
Speaker 3: doesn't excite me very much. See the other thing that
Speaker 3: I think we're seeing going on right here, you know,
Speaker 3: good players in free agency, all the movement the free
Speaker 3: agent player there wasn't a big time market this year, right,
Speaker 3: or at least high end players. So we saw a
Speaker 3: lot of guys get re signed at the last second,
Speaker 3: trades like DK Metcalf and some other ones out there.
Speaker 3: And then the other thing that's jumped out to me
Speaker 3: this weekend is I think the NFL is telling you
Speaker 3: they don't like the draft, the quarterback draft, right, anybody
Speaker 3: not named cam Ward. I think everybody's a little bit
Speaker 3: like Eh.
Speaker 4: I like him, but I don't know if I love
Speaker 4: him right that.
Speaker 3: That's the feeling I'm getting, at least by the signals
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 4: So yeah, the Giants, the options are limited.
Speaker 3: I don't know what they do there, but it seems
Speaker 3: like we're getting to the spot here where there'll be
Speaker 3: more and more pressure on them to take a quarterback
Speaker 3: at number three.
Speaker 2: You just think cam Ward is the only guy who
Speaker 2: grades out to maybe be a starter right away.
Speaker 4: Cam Ward is.
Speaker 3: I haven't come out with my rankings yet, but I've
Speaker 3: said this on my pot He's definitely the number one quarterback.
Speaker 4: That's not debatable.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 3: This will be a year where I have a hard
Speaker 3: time thinking all thirty two teams will be in consensus
Speaker 3: that that is the number one guy is worthy of
Speaker 3: being the number one pick. Cam Ward, to me, would
Speaker 3: be in the conversation with Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels
Speaker 3: as the top quarterbacks in last year's draft. I think
Speaker 3: he's worthy of that. I had Bo Nick's number three.
Speaker 3: I think if I was gonna be fair, I'd probably
Speaker 3: would have cam Ward in front of him if it
Speaker 3: was back into those times, even though I love bo Nicks,
Speaker 3: don't get me wrong.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I look at it that way.
Speaker 3: And then where I look at like Shador Sanders and
Speaker 3: Jackson Dart, I feel like they would have been towards
Speaker 3: the bottom of last year's list. But still I look
Speaker 3: at Shador Standers and still goes starting caliber stuff.
Speaker 4: First rounder.
Speaker 3: I don't love all the crap he's getting, you know,
Speaker 3: in Place is certainly not and there's a lot to
Speaker 3: like about his film.
Speaker 2: The Jets Getting justin Fields. Yeah, holds your excitement.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I like the I like the move right because he
Speaker 2: at least is going to go out. You know, if
Speaker 2: he stays healthy, he at least can make some plays.
Speaker 2: It's he can be interesting there. I think your expect
Speaker 2: level is greatly reduced because it's justin fields, and that's right,
Speaker 2: and maybe you can get eight or nine win like
Speaker 2: maybe best case scenario, maybe Rogers I you know, we
Speaker 2: thought they could go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: I hear you, and I think you know, one on
Speaker 3: top of that, you give you get justin fields that
Speaker 3: type of contract what he got, that doesn't take you
Speaker 3: out of the market for If Shador Sanders is there
Speaker 3: for you to pick right and you want to take it,
Speaker 3: you're now we're not going to be like Kirk Cousins
Speaker 3: Michael Pennox and be like what why did they pay
Speaker 3: him one hundred and fifty million dollars And now they're
Speaker 3: drafting the number seven quarterback That makes no sense. So
Speaker 3: it does give them some wiggle room there. And then
Speaker 3: I think on top of what you're saying, there is potential.
Speaker 3: It's gotten better throwing the football. There still needs to
Speaker 3: be more there. I mean, it's not you know what
Speaker 3: you want as far as throwing the football out of
Speaker 3: your starter in the NFL, but it's good. And then
Speaker 3: you got to get into playmaking. And then I also
Speaker 3: think with like what you're saying, Aaron Glenn, He's going, wait,
Speaker 3: I want a team here. I'm about a team. I
Speaker 3: just came from Detroit. I want to run, I want
Speaker 3: to play physical football. I got an awesome defense here.
Speaker 3: That I'm gonna coach up and you make them even
Speaker 3: more awesome, right, and he's gonna play team style of football.
Speaker 3: And then, yes, this gives them wiggle room, buys them
Speaker 3: time to figure out what they want to do for
Speaker 3: the quarterback of the future or Justin Fields ups his
Speaker 3: game and shows us he's the quarterback of the future.
Speaker 3: So from all that, it makes sense because I don't
Speaker 3: think they want to be held hostage by Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 3: and what he might have wanted to run the offense
Speaker 3: and how he wanted things to look. And I get
Speaker 3: it what the Jets are doing.
Speaker 2: Chris Sims Pro Football Talk Live co host also unbuttoned
Speaker 2: the Chris Sims podcast and a contributor to Football Night
Speaker 2: in America. Would you rather have Sam Darnold or Geno Smith?
Speaker 3: I would take Gino, all right, I would take Gino. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a Gino fan. I like Sam Darnold now, and
Speaker 3: I mean it's it's close, right, it's close. But I
Speaker 3: would take Gino. But also within that, Okay, if you
Speaker 3: told me, wait, you can get Sam Donald for a
Speaker 3: little less money and you can get a third round pick,
Speaker 3: I might.
Speaker 4: Go, well, I don't know, maybe I will tip.
Speaker 3: The scales swords Sam Donald then a little bit, and
Speaker 3: I think that's what Seattle looked at it, like let alone.
Speaker 3: I think Seattle's a little like, Hey, we know Gino
Speaker 3: was in the Quarterback of the future. We know that,
Speaker 3: and we're not necessarily Sam Donald is either, but we
Speaker 3: like him. And I think the biggest thing here too,
Speaker 3: Dan is Clint Kobiak. He had a full year right
Speaker 3: with Sam Donald when he was in New Orleans, I
Speaker 3: mean San Francisco, So he knows what he's all about.
Speaker 3: He's been there, he's coached him. Sam Donald's gonna be
Speaker 3: able to know his offense quite you know, quite quickly there,
Speaker 3: so that makes sense. And Mike McDonald, I think what
Speaker 3: he's doing is he's kind of going, wait, the Pete
Speaker 3: Carroll era is over. I'm getting my own players, my
Speaker 3: own culture here, and I'm not we're gonna get an
Speaker 3: offensive line. We're gonna be about defense. We're gonna be
Speaker 3: about like what I was at in Baltimore or Michigan
Speaker 3: before that, where we're gonna play team football and it's
Speaker 3: not going to just be about the quarterback. And I
Speaker 3: think they're, you know, in the midst of reorganizing their
Speaker 3: their organization here.
Speaker 2: It's kind of interesting. Slash may be sad to look
Speaker 2: at what happened to the Niners, like what could have
Speaker 2: been Now we talk about windows of opportunity. You're good
Speaker 2: friends with the head coach of the Niners that they're
Speaker 2: saying goodbye to good players. Still have some headliners there,
Speaker 2: But what's the future the immediate future of the Niners.
Speaker 3: I'm glad to see they're doing it right. You got
Speaker 3: to you gotta take a step back or rip the
Speaker 3: band aid off every now and then and start new,
Speaker 3: or take a step back to get two or three
Speaker 3: steps forward.
Speaker 4: And I think that's where they are.
Speaker 3: They couldn't go on with the current rate of what
Speaker 3: they were doing right, I've made I've had a lot
Speaker 3: of fun with this on my pod and with Florio
Speaker 3: on PFT. I mean, just think about it. I mean,
Speaker 3: their roster, the amount of money they have spent, the
Speaker 3: people they have on there, the high end guys, how
Speaker 3: can you how can that be sustainable? They have a
Speaker 3: top five paid receiver in football, and they had Deebo Samuel,
Speaker 3: which was you know up there. They have a top
Speaker 3: three paid tight end in football. They have the number
Speaker 3: two paid running back in football. They have the top
Speaker 3: paid left tackle in football. They have to pay Rock Party.
Speaker 3: They have, uh, Fred Warner, who's a top three linebacker,
Speaker 3: Nick Bosa, top three defensive player in general, Lemonnor, They're
Speaker 3: they're nickelback, top paid nickelback in football. So you just
Speaker 3: eventually the rooster comes home to roost or something like
Speaker 3: that along those lines, you know what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 3: And the pied piper is here, so they got to
Speaker 3: just clean the checkbook here and start new uh. And yeah,
Speaker 3: that team we saw to go to four NFC championships and.
Speaker 4: Two Super Bowls, it's over. They're they're starting a new era.
Speaker 3: There around of applause for Chris Simms. That's what they
Speaker 3: call those sims isms. I know you don't watch my
Speaker 3: Sims show all that much, but I seem to combine
Speaker 3: and confuse a lot of sayings. Right if you read
Speaker 3: between the tea leaves, that's a pretty good one on
Speaker 3: my podcast or my show a lot of the time.
Speaker 4: Right, I'm famous for that.
Speaker 2: Davante Adams to the Rams. But let me talk about
Speaker 2: Cooper Cup's market, because they're it looks like they're going
Speaker 2: to release him. Uh Is he a third receiver for somebody? Now?
Speaker 3: I think that's what it is, right. I don't like
Speaker 3: saying that. I like Cooper Cup. He's still got gas
Speaker 3: in the tank. But I mean he's the number two
Speaker 3: receiver with the Rams and they don't want him, and
Speaker 3: they don't have many receivers, so I think, doesn't that
Speaker 3: tell you something.
Speaker 2: Well, they don't want to invent that price?
Speaker 3: Well, they exactly right, but yet they brought somebody else
Speaker 3: in for the same price to take his spot, right
Speaker 3: or a little bit more?
Speaker 2: Well, who would you rather have, Davante Adams Orpah.
Speaker 4: Devonte Adams? I would Cooper Cup.
Speaker 3: I think a little bit between the injuries, right, getting
Speaker 3: up there in age not separating quite the same way.
Speaker 3: I think the perfect world for him is to be, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know a two really slash three where he could
Speaker 3: go and be the slot guy, right, he doesn't have
Speaker 3: to get outside and beat the top corners in football
Speaker 3: and Manda man Reid coverages run great routes tough over
Speaker 3: the middle. That's where it makes sense for Cooper Cup.
Speaker 3: But no, certainly I would take Devonte Adams over him
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: And Cooper Cup will end up with eighty catches with
Speaker 2: the Chiefs necks.
Speaker 4: Well, it could be exactly right, exactly right.
Speaker 3: He'll find a spot where a team values that slot
Speaker 3: receiver who is smart and runs option routes the right way.
Speaker 3: And I wouldn't be shocked to see him have a
Speaker 3: little second wind of his career like we saw Adam
Speaker 3: Feln when he went from Minnesota to Carolina, who still
Speaker 3: looks pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: Tom Brady, you think pulled the trigger on the Geno
Speaker 2: Smith deal.
Speaker 3: I think he gives him the final vote of confidence one. Hey,
Speaker 3: Pete Carroll right, he's got history with Gino Smith, so
Speaker 3: he likes that. But I think I think where I
Speaker 3: and again this I kind of tweeted this out on
Speaker 3: Friday night or whatever night it went down that I
Speaker 3: think this was a look of Tom Brady going on.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we want other quarterbacks not named
Speaker 3: cam Ward at number six. Let's just go with a
Speaker 3: guy that we know can play, is a little bit
Speaker 3: better than people realize, and you trust them, Pete, and
Speaker 3: he can start and jumpstart your culture in the locker
Speaker 3: room and convey your messages to those guys that way.
Speaker 4: I certainly think Tom Brady had a saying that, no question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if I look at this from ten thousand feet,
Speaker 2: it feels like Brady says, I need somebody that I
Speaker 2: can at least show up every Sunday and trust that
Speaker 2: he'll go out right and he'll play quality football. He
Speaker 2: also has Rock Bowers. If they go after Ashton Genty
Speaker 2: and you got Max Crosby, okay, now you have some
Speaker 2: entertainment here. Now you at least can be competitive in
Speaker 2: your own division with those other quarterbacks. And if you've
Speaker 2: got Schudor Sanders, I don't think he was going to
Speaker 2: start right away. You're not gonna get cam Ward, so
Speaker 2: you get somebody they don't. I thought maybe they get
Speaker 2: Sam Darnold. But you know that'll tell you what yea, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Tom thought of the situation that give me the guy
Speaker 2: that I know is proven a little bit more over
Speaker 2: time than what we've seen with Sam.
Speaker 4: That's right. Let alone. The head coach knows him right, Yeah,
Speaker 4: so that's good. That's a good thing.
Speaker 3: The head coach, I doubt wants a rookie quarterback, right
Speaker 3: Pete Carroll knows he's not there for seven years. He's
Speaker 3: probably going damn. I might got two three fourth the most,
Speaker 3: So I need somebody that can hit the ground running
Speaker 3: doing all that. And then I think, yes, Brady's seeing
Speaker 3: it like you're saying, or like I'm saying, he's going,
Speaker 3: damn this guy. Hey, he'll push the ball down the field.
Speaker 6: Damn.
Speaker 3: He moves better than people realize. Yeah, he's got a
Speaker 3: little experience. He sees the field and damn, his arm's powerful.
Speaker 4: He can he can.
Speaker 3: Be sexy and exciting that way. And why we do
Speaker 3: that and all the things you mentioned. Ad buys Brady
Speaker 3: time and the team time to figure out what they
Speaker 3: want to do big picture, long term for the quarterback,
Speaker 3: because eventually Brady's gonna figure it out as long as
Speaker 3: they're in a position to where they can get a
Speaker 3: quarterback that makes sense. I mean, come on, Brady knows
Speaker 3: how to evaluate the position. He knows the throwers when
Speaker 3: he sees, he knows good decision makers, and I have
Speaker 3: no question he'll get that right eventually.
Speaker 2: Have you hung out with Brady socially?
Speaker 4: Not really hung out? No? No, not really?
Speaker 2: When New England.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was around a lot and around him, and
Speaker 3: you know, I had to hand them stuff all the time,
Speaker 3: and you know, I was always handing them papers and
Speaker 3: at the time I was always like, hey, Tom, we
Speaker 3: got to get like, we're wasting like half of the
Speaker 3: Brazilian and Giselle's home country rainforest with all this stuff
Speaker 3: we're printing out every day.
Speaker 4: Let's save the world and go to like the tablet
Speaker 4: so the iPad of it. What was your next year
Speaker 4: it happened?
Speaker 2: What was your job in New England?
Speaker 4: Do whatever they say? Boy, that's what I loved. I mean,
Speaker 4: that's yeah. I was quality control.
Speaker 3: I had some things involved in scouting, uh and whatever
Speaker 3: they yelled at me to do next, That's that was
Speaker 3: my job.
Speaker 2: But how did it feel though? When Tom says, hey, oh,
Speaker 2: did you hear Tom's getting all the guys together and
Speaker 2: go out and have beers and then you weren't that far.
Speaker 4: Then I wasn't invited right.
Speaker 3: Well, one, he was like, what, he's not allowed out
Speaker 3: of his shackles, so they're not letting him out of
Speaker 3: his dungeon up there. But but no, of course that
Speaker 3: was a tough transition period.
Speaker 4: In general.
Speaker 3: I'm sitting there just getting done playing football, going, damn,
Speaker 3: I'm better than some of these guys in the league.
Speaker 3: I can't believe this right, and yeah, I'd seen him
Speaker 3: and some of the other guys of the team, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I wish I could hang out with him. I wish
Speaker 3: I could go hang with Brady right now. I really
Speaker 3: love Tom Brady as a guy. I know I've been
Speaker 3: on him about to flight gate, There's no doubt about that,
Speaker 3: and I won't back down from that. But everything else
Speaker 3: about Tom Brady I thoroughly admire. I admired my time
Speaker 3: with him, his work ethic and.
Speaker 2: Hey, what is you about the flate that he did
Speaker 2: it and didn't admit me? Yeah, exactly, But you know what,
Speaker 2: it's a stupid rule.
Speaker 3: Well it's not a stupid rule. I'll disagree with you there.
Speaker 3: Then then then let the kids. Then let my homes
Speaker 3: throw a college football and see what you think about that.
Speaker 4: From his feet.
Speaker 2: You get to you get the ball that you want,
Speaker 2: and then I get the ball that I want.
Speaker 3: I know, but if you but because if you let
Speaker 3: me take air out of the football, my arm will
Speaker 3: go up exponentially and I'll be able to control it
Speaker 3: and doing things that I wouldn't be able to do
Speaker 3: if the ball was inflated properly.
Speaker 4: It's the big deal.
Speaker 2: We're giving you an advantage. I get an advantage, I
Speaker 2: get the ball that I want. We do this with kickers,
Speaker 2: why not with quarterbacks? It's silly.
Speaker 3: Well, at some point there has to be a baseline
Speaker 3: for everybody has to do the same thing. So in basketball,
Speaker 3: do we want to some of the guys aren't shooting
Speaker 3: as good, should we tell them to lower the basket?
Speaker 4: Or some of the guys don't run as fast? Should
Speaker 4: we tell some of the faster guys to slow down?
Speaker 2: In the NFL, offense gets their own football. We're not
Speaker 2: talking about lowering a rim.
Speaker 4: That's not No. I want something that's a It's a
Speaker 4: sport of.
Speaker 3: Rules and what we do when we play with the
Speaker 3: ball that's the same size. What sport does that go to?
Speaker 3: Sound like old man baseballs? Hey use a metal baseball
Speaker 3: bat this time up? Who cares?
Speaker 4: I mean, we'll let you use metal bats today to
Speaker 4: the US use.
Speaker 2: Only two people who are affected by this, the quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: That's all a couple of psiys.
Speaker 4: No, the quarterbacks, it does, and yes it would affect.
Speaker 4: It's gonna help. It's gonna help people who catch the ball.
Speaker 3: It's gonna help the running backs and everybody else that
Speaker 3: has to grab the ball and not fumble the ball
Speaker 3: as much because it's.
Speaker 4: Not properly inflated, so now you can squeeze it to death.
Speaker 2: Yes, you you're like your old man.
Speaker 4: I'm just the realist dude you've ever met. I'm just sorry.
Speaker 4: That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2: Good to talk about.
Speaker 4: No other than that. Brady's awesome. And and what Brady
Speaker 4: did show.
Speaker 3: Us is that two weeks later in Super Bowl forty nine,
Speaker 3: he could throw lasers all over the field. And that's
Speaker 3: why I was mad at that, because I was like,
Speaker 3: you don't need that, you're the man, that's all.
Speaker 4: That was my point.
Speaker 2: You know, Aaron Rodgers over inflated footballs.
Speaker 3: Hey listen, if you want to make it harder on yourself,
Speaker 3: go ahead. I mean no, he told me that he
Speaker 3: over inflated. Nobody got upset about because everybody would go,
Speaker 3: that's a disadvantage. Nobody in football would go put a
Speaker 3: bigger object in. It had to be to make it.
Speaker 3: It had to be an advantage for him to overinflate it.
Speaker 3: I mean, he must have just liked how it felt
Speaker 3: in his hand, right, that would be the big thing.
Speaker 3: But I don't think you're gonna find a common consensus
Speaker 3: of quarterbacks through the history of time. They're gonna go
Speaker 3: make the ball bigger and heavier, and I'll throw it bedroom.
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers is a freak of nature, right, He's got
Speaker 3: gigantic hans and he's arguably the greatest arm ever. And
Speaker 3: why do you gotta do this to me? Why'd you
Speaker 3: ever bring me down this lane with Brady and all this?
Speaker 3: Now I gonna hear this crap again. Brady's the man.
Speaker 3: Get off his back, Get off my back, Get off
Speaker 3: my lawn. That's what she should be saying.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Chris.
Speaker 4: All right, guys say it.
Speaker 2: Chris Sims Pro Football Talk Live, co host Football Night
Speaker 2: in America. Look, Tom Lied, that's all. That's a silly rule.
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Speaker 7: And if you miss any of the live show, just
Speaker 7: search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 7: of course on social media.
Speaker 4: That's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2: He's the head coach of the Auburn Tigers, his eleventh
Speaker 2: year there. He's Bruce Pearl. It was six years ago
Speaker 2: in Minneapolis. I had you in studio. You had your
Speaker 2: team in the Final four, and I said to Paulie
Speaker 2: I'm going to make Bruce Pearl cry that day, and
Speaker 2: you did shed a tear a light tier, but I
Speaker 2: got you to cry.
Speaker 6: Hi Bruce, Hi Dan? Who are you?
Speaker 2: I'm great. I'm not going to try to make you
Speaker 2: cry this time.
Speaker 6: You know, of all your great accomplishments over the course
Speaker 6: of your career, I hope my shedding a teer isn't
Speaker 6: one of them.
Speaker 2: It was just a goal to see if I could,
Speaker 2: you know, bring out that emotion. Because you're an emotional guy.
Speaker 2: You say you cry a lot. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you've cried the last two games that you love lost.
Speaker 2: You know, no offense here the timing of this, but
Speaker 2: you know, when's the last time you cried.
Speaker 6: Let's see, I probably cried after we'd be Kentucky at
Speaker 6: RUP and won the championship. I'd say, I would say probably.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm pretty passionate. You talk about family, talk
Speaker 6: about the Lord, you know, talk about the blood, sweat
Speaker 6: and tears that go into all the things that it
Speaker 6: takes to win a championship. In other words, just like
Speaker 6: putting up with me and my expectations, my accountability, my
Speaker 6: you know, my my temper. I'm grateful grateful, uh and
Speaker 6: blessed and did not cry after we lost to tex
Speaker 6: A and m and Alabama because we've lost four games.
Speaker 6: We've lost to Duke and John Shire at john Shire Duke,
Speaker 6: we lost to Todd Golden at Florida, and those that
Speaker 6: those had been the only two losses we had had
Speaker 6: for a long time. And and and so for a while,
Speaker 6: I could say, like, the only coaches in the country
Speaker 6: that I'm willing to lose to are Jewish coaches John Sharon,
Speaker 6: Todd Bolden, Like, if you're not Jewish, I'm not losing
Speaker 6: to you. We Jews don't like to lose very often,
Speaker 6: in case you haven't noticed, with I'm Israel co And
Speaker 6: but then Buzz Williams came in ran you know, fourteenth
Speaker 6: in the country, and and then of course we lost
Speaker 6: ton Oates. And I don't think either one of those guys,
Speaker 6: you know for a temple.
Speaker 2: Uh, Princey, would you check and see if they're the
Speaker 2: other two coaches are Jewish? All right, thank you? Okay,
Speaker 2: So why'd you cry after you lost or one at
Speaker 2: Kentucky at rupp Arena.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I think just I guess the motion
Speaker 6: of it all the the the being being, you know,
Speaker 6: really really grateful. Dan. I think what we do as
Speaker 6: we work in this this this ministry, or in this
Speaker 6: thing about coaching, we are we are we are built
Speaker 6: to win and compete for championship. We really truly do.
Speaker 6: And at the end of the day, there was a
Speaker 6: championship that could be won. I didn't cry at the
Speaker 6: when we beat when we when we won the Maui Invitational.
Speaker 6: You know that that you know, that wasn't that wasn't
Speaker 6: big enough. But I think because the league was so good,
Speaker 6: and it was so hard, and every night you had
Speaker 6: to kind of get ready and and and there were
Speaker 6: a lot of upsets. Our my basketball team did not
Speaker 6: get upset very much at all. Uh And in the
Speaker 6: sense that they beat a lot of people that were
Speaker 6: supposed to beat. And uh I I probably just tried
Speaker 6: it cried out of gratitude, gratefulness.
Speaker 2: Who's the best player in college basketball this year?
Speaker 6: Well, I think jan I Broom is that it should
Speaker 6: be the college player of the year because of all
Speaker 6: that he's accomplished and and and all that he's able
Speaker 6: to do for our team. Leads us and scoring and
Speaker 6: rebounding and assists and and and and obviously stepped up
Speaker 6: in the biggest games. I think Cooper Flag at Duke
Speaker 6: is going to be if he's not the first player drafted,
Speaker 6: is gonna be one of the top player drafted. And
Speaker 6: Cooper is an amazing player who plays so hard and
Speaker 6: impacts the game so much. But what Auburn has done
Speaker 6: this year through this league to have sixteen Quad one
Speaker 6: wins has never been done before. That means on we
Speaker 6: had twenty games against the Quad one. Now, when you're
Speaker 6: playing a Quad one game, I don't care where you're
Speaker 6: ranked one through thirty five. Let's say we've got a
Speaker 6: fifty five sixty percent chance of winning that game, even
Speaker 6: if we're one, playing against the team that's twenty and
Speaker 6: win sixteen of those out of twenty is just unprecedented,
Speaker 6: and so therefore I feel like our best player is
Speaker 6: the best player in college basketball.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's say you're coaching Cooper Flag yep, and you
Speaker 2: want him to come back for another year, but you
Speaker 2: want him to realize he wants to come back for
Speaker 2: another year, not you selfishly as a coach, how would
Speaker 2: you go about trying to convince Cooper Flag to stay
Speaker 2: one more year.
Speaker 6: Well, first of all. I would only try to convince
Speaker 6: him to do it if I truly felt like it
Speaker 6: was in his best interests, not just in mind.
Speaker 2: And now you have seen the Washington Wizard's roster, Bruce.
Speaker 6: Yes, I have it. Here's the one factor that I
Speaker 6: would ask to consider him to consider Dan, you know
Speaker 6: this because you've been doing this a long time. It's
Speaker 6: not how much you make, it's how long you can
Speaker 6: make it. That's the truth. And so the question for
Speaker 6: Cooper Flagg would be what's the best position for you
Speaker 6: to be in for your second and your third contract?
Speaker 6: And if there can be any discussion about the fact
Speaker 6: that at eighteen or nineteen, when you are in position
Speaker 6: at age twenty one, maybe to have to sign that
Speaker 6: second big contract. You know, there's a difference between being
Speaker 6: rich and being wealthy. People that are wealthy have made
Speaker 6: it for a long time. And so that's the only
Speaker 6: thing I would look at as far as what might
Speaker 6: be in his best interest is would waiting another year
Speaker 6: put him in a better position to sign that second
Speaker 6: and third contract that takes him from being rich to wealthy.
Speaker 2: He's only eighteen, that's right, crazy crazy.
Speaker 6: That would be the only factor we're.
Speaker 2: Talking to Bruce Pearl, Auburn head coach. SEC Conference tournament
Speaker 2: starts on Friday. We've talked about a variety of things.
Speaker 2: The NBA has, you know, face of the NBA. Could
Speaker 2: we get the non North America basketball players to play
Speaker 2: against the you know, US based players in the All
Speaker 2: Star Game? Like where do you see?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 2: The globalization of basketball is the future in Europe and
Speaker 2: other countries more so than it is in the United States.
Speaker 2: If you consider I could probably give you seven or
Speaker 2: eight of the top ten players in the game and
Speaker 2: they're not from the United States.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the game. I think the game is in great shape, Dan,
Speaker 6: in the sense that worldwide it's really really popular. And
Speaker 6: you're right, these international players, European players are playing the
Speaker 6: game better than our guys have. One of the factors
Speaker 6: has been just a skill level that they are brought
Speaker 6: up through a training program that isn't like high school,
Speaker 6: AAU college, so on and so forth. At the same time,
Speaker 6: your interest in our game and the college game has
Speaker 6: never been better. Like the numbers that we're pulling for
Speaker 6: the best, This is a tremendous regular season in college basketball,
Speaker 6: just even just the SEC. How many ranked teams against
Speaker 6: ranked teams, and then how many of those games delivered
Speaker 6: like the last two Saturdays in the SEC Alabama Tennessee overtime,
Speaker 6: Auburn Alabama overtime, and the ratings are really good. I
Speaker 6: don't know. I read a little bit about what's going
Speaker 6: on with the NBA and what, but I couldn't tell
Speaker 6: you why some of those numbers are down. But our
Speaker 6: numbers have never been stronger.
Speaker 2: But the talent level, I mean, they're young, they're you
Speaker 2: know these guys, I mean jokers, what thirty or you know,
Speaker 2: somewhere around there. But if you put in Giannis, you
Speaker 2: put in Embid and you put in Luca Shay Gilgis,
Speaker 2: you know from Canada, and maybe we go back to
Speaker 2: the dream team that the Dream Team in ninety two
Speaker 2: sort of you know, birth this, they spawned all of this.
Speaker 2: I'm just curious, does the does US basketball try to
Speaker 2: model itself after, you know, instead of this AAU and
Speaker 2: we've seen that basketball. It can be pretty ugly talented
Speaker 2: but ugly feels like you know what Europe is doing
Speaker 2: in other countries is they get you into a system,
Speaker 2: learn how to handle the ball, learn you know, the
Speaker 2: fundamental be a big guy handle the ball on the perimeter,
Speaker 2: like all of these things, feels like the US is
Speaker 2: missing out on that opportunity.
Speaker 6: Well, I think there are people that are in the
Speaker 6: professional basketball in world basketball that are studying this very
Speaker 6: factor right now. They're absolutely looking at it. You know.
Speaker 6: The ext explanation I can have for it is the
Speaker 6: age that they have these European kids starting to train
Speaker 6: the specialization into, you know, the one particular sport. They
Speaker 6: don't have the same you know, rules as far as
Speaker 6: how many hours you can or can't train, whether you're
Speaker 6: a high school player and you can only practice a
Speaker 6: certain amount of time, and certainly in college so and
Speaker 6: so forth. You know. I think the other thing too,
Speaker 6: the skill level right now is what is dominating our
Speaker 6: sport in the sense that the men are so big
Speaker 6: and they're so strong, and they're so athletic that now
Speaker 6: we're putting five guys out there on a perimeterive to
Speaker 6: three point line and spreading the floor just so that
Speaker 6: we have some space to be able to drive down
Speaker 6: the lane and make place because nobody, hardly anybody is
Speaker 6: putting a post player on the inside because there's just
Speaker 6: no room for them. So side sometimes in some ways
Speaker 6: the size and the athleticism of the American player that
Speaker 6: may have been a dominating force. Uh in basketball, it's
Speaker 6: now no longer as as as as an important a
Speaker 6: cog as the ability to spread the floor and have
Speaker 6: the skills to be able to shoot and handle, which
Speaker 6: is more akin to the European player.
Speaker 2: Okay, but what would you do with Shack if he
Speaker 2: was your center?
Speaker 6: Oh, I'd find a way. I have. I am Jani
Speaker 6: broom right now, and and and and we're gonna find
Speaker 6: ways to get him inside and and and and and
Speaker 6: and and and run our offense accordingly. So oh no, no,
Speaker 6: you give me Shack. His big ass is going on
Speaker 6: the block, and good luck. The only way you're gonna
Speaker 6: stop him is to hackershack him.
Speaker 2: Who's the best player you recruited didn't get? But the
Speaker 2: best player you you recruited?
Speaker 6: Wow? Well, you know it's interesting. Aj Devansta was somebody
Speaker 6: that the kid, that young man is going to b yu. Uh.
Speaker 6: He grew up in Boston and actually grew up in Brockton,
Speaker 6: which is really a town outside of where I grew up.
Speaker 6: And we got in early on him and and uh, guy,
Speaker 6: he's got a great family, and and he he was
Speaker 6: one of the highest rated players I think I've ever
Speaker 6: you know, not not gotten. Uh. Anthony Edwards maybe in
Speaker 6: Atlanta would have been another one that that, you know,
Speaker 6: that we worked on but didn't get there. There. There's
Speaker 6: probably a long list of kids I finished second on,
Speaker 6: but those are two probably pretty big names.
Speaker 2: Tom Izzo said, Chris Weber made him cry because he
Speaker 2: thought he was getting Chris Webber and then you lose
Speaker 2: him to Michigan. That's painful.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, no, no, it's that. That definitely is. I
Speaker 6: remember when Tom was an assistant for jud Heathcote and
Speaker 6: they were playing old Jennison field House, and so I
Speaker 6: don't know that Michigan State's program was in position when
Speaker 6: Chris Webber was coming out out of Country Day High
Speaker 6: School in UH in Detroit to pick Michigan State over
Speaker 6: uh Michigan, and tom Izzo hadn't quite done what he
Speaker 6: what he done.
Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, but he still had the magic Johnson era.
Speaker 6: That's great, and that's about I don't want to speak
Speaker 6: to Michigan basketball history Michigan State basketball history, but the
Speaker 6: perception of Michigan's program at that time was much stronger
Speaker 6: than Michigan State.
Speaker 2: When where were you in your career when Burden magic
Speaker 2: arrived on the scene in college basketball.
Speaker 6: I was just coming out of high school. I was
Speaker 6: just starting at Boston College for doctor Tom Davis, starting
Speaker 6: to be a manager and and work in the industry.
Speaker 2: So you're a lifer. You're a lifer, aren't you.
Speaker 6: I was at BC in nineteen seventy eight before the
Speaker 6: Big East was born. I saw Dave Gavitt, you get
Speaker 6: that thing started. Doctor Tom Davis in the job he
Speaker 6: did at Boston College goes way under the radar because
Speaker 6: of you know, Louis Carnoseca and John Thompson, really mess Amino,
Speaker 6: you know, just Jim Beaheim and and Yukon and all.
Speaker 6: And we were at BC kind of doing great. In
Speaker 6: those early early years of the Big East. They almost
Speaker 6: took holy Cross. Boston College had to write a fifty
Speaker 6: thousand dollars check in the athletic director Bill Flint at
Speaker 6: the time wasn't sure that was going to be a
Speaker 6: good enough investment. Had to get a door named Bernie
Speaker 6: Plansky to write that check. Otherwise holy Cross would have
Speaker 6: been in the Big East and now the CC not
Speaker 6: Boston College.
Speaker 2: Wow, who do you get mistaken for in public? Uh?
Speaker 6: Sometimes uh, Lou Farigno, like the incredible, incredible, the Green
Speaker 6: Monster that back when I when I was a little bigger,
Speaker 6: not anymore. Every now and then Greg Brady remember Brady Bons,
Speaker 6: we had the afro a little bit of that. Hey hey,
Speaker 6: and a really good day thirty forty years ago.
Speaker 2: Tom Jones, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, if women start
Speaker 2: throwing their underwear at you at an Auburn game, like
Speaker 2: you know, Tom Jones in I'm thinking a little bit
Speaker 2: of Jeff Garland from curb your enthusiasm, like Larry David's
Speaker 2: good buddy, like like a smaller verb maybe just the face, uh,
Speaker 2: and and your voice you could be you know, Jeff Garland.
Speaker 6: I've gotten a lot, a lot great you know, coaches,
Speaker 6: we do agent Doggie.
Speaker 2: Years, you know, are you okay? Coaching seems to be
Speaker 2: the fun easier part than the n I L and
Speaker 2: the recruiting.
Speaker 5: Is that fair?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Coaching because coaching is still you know, teaching and
Speaker 6: and and and and developing and and and the gym
Speaker 6: and the ball and and uh look I like N
Speaker 6: I L. Dan, because we're way overdue. Thank God for
Speaker 6: n I L. For you, for me, and and it
Speaker 6: would make this country great. And obviously the numbers that
Speaker 6: these kids are getting right now tells you how late
Speaker 6: the n C double A was. Yeah, recognizing the value
Speaker 6: of these student athletes. Now, listen, there's no right now,
Speaker 6: there are no rules. There are no regulations. We gotta
Speaker 6: find so we gotta we go. If we're gonna have
Speaker 6: a national champion, then then we truly need to be
Speaker 6: playing more by the same rules. They play more by
Speaker 6: the same rules in Major League Baseball, in the NFL
Speaker 6: and the NBA right now than we are on college
Speaker 6: and we are trying to figure it out. There needs
Speaker 6: to be bipartisan support in Washington, d C. To try
Speaker 6: to find a way to bring this great college system
Speaker 6: back while we're able to compensate the student athletes, you know,
Speaker 6: wait for what they're worth. But there's gotta be some guardrails.
Speaker 6: Senator Ted Cruz has got legislation right now. But you
Speaker 6: know how Washington, d C. Is completely dysfunctional, and if
Speaker 6: the Republicans wanted, the Democrats won't. We got to find
Speaker 6: a way to bring it to be able to have
Speaker 6: the intercollegiate system what we do and still compensate our
Speaker 6: student athletes, and I think that's the best way of
Speaker 6: doing it. Right now, we're we're just putting band aids
Speaker 6: on it and we're all trying to navigate it.
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you on the success. Hopefully you
Speaker 2: don't run into a Jewish head coach of the rest
Speaker 2: of the season. But thank you for joining us.
Speaker 6: Always a pleasure, Dan, and thanks for not making me cry.
Speaker 2: All right, this time that's Bruce Pearl Friday SEC Tournament.
Speaker 2: They will get underway. Opponent to be determined.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Wapp Lewis Riddick for the Mothership ESPN College Football, NFL
Speaker 2: analyst and a former front office executive with the Eagles
Speaker 2: and Washington All right, instant replay came into our world
Speaker 2: on this day in nineteen eighty six. Has instant replay
Speaker 2: been good for sports or bad?
Speaker 6: Look?
Speaker 8: I think it's been both. And I know that sounded
Speaker 8: like a little bit of a cop out, right. I
Speaker 8: think you you want to maintain as much of the
Speaker 8: human element the game as possible. You don't want to
Speaker 8: slow it down too much. You don't want to have
Speaker 8: it be a constant barade of replays. But you know what,
Speaker 8: when there are game changing plays games, I mean, plays
Speaker 8: that can really just really substantially affect the outcome, and
Speaker 8: you know that they are blatantly missed, I think that's
Speaker 8: when replay, when it gets it right in those kinds
Speaker 8: of situations, I think that's good for the game because
Speaker 8: I think ultimately that's what we all want. We want
Speaker 8: to you know, we want the right teams to win
Speaker 8: by abiding by the rules and the teams to be punished.
Speaker 5: That don't abide by the rules. So it's you're never then.
Speaker 8: I don't think you're ever going to have like one
Speaker 8: hundred percent consensus of whether or not replay is good
Speaker 8: good the game or not, because as soon as you
Speaker 8: start there's too many replays, people start complaining about the
Speaker 8: fact that it's slowing down the game, And you know what,
Speaker 8: just let the ref ref And then as soon as
Speaker 8: ref's miss and as soon as the refs miss.
Speaker 5: A call, it's like, which which league.
Speaker 8: Do the ref suck more? Is it an NBA or
Speaker 8: is it the n Is it the script? Are these
Speaker 8: games rigged. Is Grogoral Goodell trying to protect Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 8: blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: No one's ever happy. That's kind of like the world
Speaker 5: we live in right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was always bothered it came in as instant replay.
Speaker 2: Then they changed it to replay because it was an
Speaker 2: instant So that was one of my big problems. All right,
Speaker 2: let me you. You worked in two front offices. You
Speaker 2: worked with the Eagles in Washington. I'm going to put
Speaker 2: you in the Steelers' front office. Yeah, you decide who's
Speaker 2: going to be your quarterback between Russell Wilson Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 8: I would look, I would I would go with with
Speaker 8: Aaron because I said all along, I believe the organization
Speaker 8: needs him. He needs this kind of organization. I think
Speaker 8: at this point in his career. What's my rationale for that?
Speaker 8: Why do they need him? Pittsburgh needs to level up somehow.
Speaker 5: Some way at quarterback. They just do. They have been
Speaker 5: stuck in this kind of like mid range, mid tier.
Speaker 8: Mode of operating at that position and figured as though
Speaker 8: Michael Tomlin could coach his way around that the defense
Speaker 8: could create enough turnovers to get around that they could
Speaker 8: run the ball well enough to get around it. They
Speaker 8: could play renegade enough to where they would create some
Speaker 8: kind of magic in the stadium and that would be enough.
Speaker 5: And it's not enough.
Speaker 8: They've got to level up somehow, and that's either through veteran,
Speaker 8: the veteran market, or the draft where they're drafting right now.
Speaker 8: Is it possible for them to still get someone late
Speaker 8: in the first round that could wind up helping them
Speaker 8: at the position.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I believe that there is.
Speaker 8: But when we're just talking about free agency, Aaron levels
Speaker 8: up for them. He just does with his knowledge, which
Speaker 8: I would. I still think he has left in the
Speaker 8: gas tank as far as his ability to play the
Speaker 8: game and how he could help this offense, in particular
Speaker 8: the passing.
Speaker 5: Game become more dynamic. He will need to abide by a.
Speaker 8: Much more rigid structure in Pittsburgh and not think that
Speaker 8: he can come in there and bring in all of
Speaker 8: his buddies bringing got you there, and pick and pick
Speaker 8: his offensive coordinator and call the plays that he wants
Speaker 8: all the time and like basically run the show. He's
Speaker 8: not running the show and he doesn't really need to
Speaker 8: at this point, and I wouldn't. I would and trust
Speaker 8: him to do that anyway, and Mike's not gonna let
Speaker 8: him do that, and Arthur Smith's not gonna let him
Speaker 8: do that. So I think he needs to just focus
Speaker 8: on playing ball, coming back the second year off of
Speaker 8: this Achilles and actually going out the way he wants
Speaker 8: to go out and have people look at him the way.
Speaker 5: He wants people to look at him. And Pittsburgh needs
Speaker 5: the level up.
Speaker 8: So yeah, I think it's a I think it's a
Speaker 8: good combination on the surface. Now, we don't know how
Speaker 8: Mike feels about that, we don't know how Arthur Smith
Speaker 8: feels about that. We don't know how DK Metcalf and
Speaker 8: George Pickens are going to react Aaron Rodgers getting in
Speaker 8: their rear end about not doing things the right way.
Speaker 8: There's a lot of things that still would have to
Speaker 8: be worked out, but that's that's that's the same The
Speaker 8: same thing is true with every free agent transaction. There's
Speaker 8: always going to be things to work out.
Speaker 2: But then, does Russ in the Game of Musical Chairs
Speaker 2: end up with the Giants?
Speaker 5: Probably? He probably does.
Speaker 8: And you know what I think, Look, I think both
Speaker 8: of these guys at this point in time in their
Speaker 8: career are bridge players. It's just a matter of whether
Speaker 8: or not that's a one year bridge or a multiple
Speaker 8: year bridge.
Speaker 5: In Pittsburgh, it could be a multiple year bridge for.
Speaker 8: Aaron because they don't have a they're not really in
Speaker 8: position to get what we would term as a surefire
Speaker 8: long term solution given where they're where they're drafting. So
Speaker 8: he may be going into he can be possibly going
Speaker 8: into a situation there where he could extend this thing
Speaker 8: to two, maybe.
Speaker 5: Three years, if he wanted to play that long.
Speaker 8: If you're in if you're in New York, you know
Speaker 8: for sure, Russell Wilson, that being Russell Wilson, knows for
Speaker 8: sure that as soon as he walks in there, he's
Speaker 8: already on the clock. They're already thinking about what the
Speaker 8: next option is. Then it may be this year, who knows,
Speaker 8: but they may think, hey, you know what, we'll sit Pat,
Speaker 8: we'll play with Russ for a year, We'll draft Travis Spunter.
Speaker 8: Maybe we'll move down, who knows, Maybe we'll accumulate some
Speaker 8: more picks and continue to try and build out this roster,
Speaker 8: which is you know what, I'll tell you what I know.
Speaker 8: It sounds like I'm gonna be ranting here a little bit,
Speaker 8: but that that's probably one of the most annoying things
Speaker 8: for me to hear at this time of year.
Speaker 5: All the times, let's trade down.
Speaker 8: And get more picks and build up the roster and
Speaker 8: then just plug in the quarterback like you need to
Speaker 8: pick one off of my grandma's cherry tree and plug
Speaker 8: him in there.
Speaker 5: But that may be what they're thinking.
Speaker 8: I don't know if I'm Joe Shane right now, though
Speaker 8: I'm Brian da Ball, I'm thinking I need to win
Speaker 8: some games, man, and I need to win them this year.
Speaker 8: So that's what makes this time of year so fun
Speaker 8: to see how these teams ultimately wind up constructing the roster,
Speaker 8: who they getting, and how it pans out.
Speaker 5: In New York. There's gonna be no team you talk
Speaker 5: about more next year than the Giants, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: And we have a bet on the show the uh
Speaker 2: will there be more running backs than quarterbacks? Taken in
Speaker 2: the first.
Speaker 5: Guys talking about that? All right, that's a good one.
Speaker 5: What do you think I think it will be running backs?
Speaker 8: Months ago of GM who I respect A Ton said, look,
Speaker 8: this is the best year I've seen for running backs
Speaker 8: since I've been a general manager.
Speaker 5: He's been a general manager for a little bit.
Speaker 8: Now, and he's someone who really does do a good
Speaker 8: job of evalue.
Speaker 5: Waiting that position in particular. And I agree.
Speaker 8: I've seen a bunch of these guys in person this year,
Speaker 8: and when you start watching the tape, you have guys
Speaker 8: who are big, strong, powerful dudes, and you've got some
Speaker 8: guys who are kind of like Jamier Gibbs. I don't
Speaker 8: want to say scout Back type dudes, but guys were
Speaker 8: real electric in terms of their ability to stop starting
Speaker 8: go seventy eighty on you.
Speaker 5: And even the big dudes can do that. I mean,
Speaker 5: you look at a Marion Hampton, you start thinking Joe Mixon.
Speaker 8: I mean you, I'm sitting there watching him and I'm going, damn,
Speaker 8: is that Joe Mixon in a North Carolina uniform? And
Speaker 8: then you look at Ashton and I'm telling you people,
Speaker 8: you know, people think I'm crazy.
Speaker 5: I'm going, that's EMITTT. Smith with better speed. That's what
Speaker 5: it is. That's what that is.
Speaker 8: Now watch Brashard Smith from SMU. I'm sitting there going
Speaker 8: if that ain't Engineer Gibbs, I don't know who is.
Speaker 8: There's all kinds man, there's all kinds and if you need,
Speaker 8: if you're if you need a back this year, I
Speaker 8: mean you may not take him in the top ten,
Speaker 8: top fifteen, although I think Ashton deserves to.
Speaker 5: Go that high.
Speaker 8: I think you will see this will be a heavy
Speaker 8: year for backs going in the first round, top of
Speaker 8: a second for sure, and once that run starts, there's
Speaker 8: gonna be people just picking them off, for sure.
Speaker 2: Lewis Riddick part of ESPN's ongoing NFL free agent coverage.
Speaker 2: You can catch him with Adam Schefter and more today
Speaker 2: on ESPN from three until five. You're sold on cam
Speaker 2: Ward going as the number one, number one quarterback? Are
Speaker 2: you sold that Shador Sanders is a first round quarterback?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 8: I am top fifteen, he's a top half of the
Speaker 8: first round.
Speaker 5: Okay, he's a top half.
Speaker 2: But where where is this negativity coming from? And I
Speaker 2: like it's on the field and then a little bit
Speaker 2: off the field with how he interviewed with one coach
Speaker 2: at the combine. It feels like it was a smear
Speaker 2: campaign because once it happened that all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: it's boom, everybody kind of jumped on this.
Speaker 8: Why of course, look they've been trying to people have
Speaker 8: been at this game, so to speak, of trying to
Speaker 8: talk certain prospects down for years.
Speaker 5: Dion is a lightning rod. That's where it starts. It
Speaker 5: doesn't even start with Shador.
Speaker 6: This is about.
Speaker 8: This starts with his father and then it just trickles
Speaker 8: down to him, and it starts with his father. It's
Speaker 8: been that way since I played with Deon back in
Speaker 8: nineteen ninety two in Atlanta. People don't like flashy guys
Speaker 8: like that who can back it up.
Speaker 5: They just don't. They don't like people who are strong, confident.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 8: It's funny, like we love it, but then with some
Speaker 8: people we don't love. With Dion, he's always been a
Speaker 8: polarizing player to the people who don't know him. If
Speaker 8: you know him personally, you would be like, I get
Speaker 8: it and I love it, Give me.
Speaker 5: More of it. With Shador, he has some of his
Speaker 5: father in him. There's no question. How could he not.
Speaker 5: He's the man.
Speaker 8: I mean, he's the man's son, and so a lot
Speaker 8: of it comes from who he is and what his
Speaker 8: last name is. Now, as far as him individually, why
Speaker 8: do they pick at him on the field.
Speaker 5: Does he have cam Ward's arm?
Speaker 8: No? Do you need cam Ward's arm? Do you need
Speaker 8: John Elway's arm? Do you need Josh Allen's arm? In
Speaker 8: order to play high level winning football in the NFL?
Speaker 5: No, But at this time of.
Speaker 8: Year we always fall back to those baseline, those baseline
Speaker 8: levels in terms of like evaluating quarterbacks and saying, well,
Speaker 8: if you don't have a rocket army, you can't play.
Speaker 8: If you don't run four four like Lamar and can
Speaker 8: create outside of structure and throw the ball and switch
Speaker 8: it to your left hand like Patrick Mahomes, you can't play.
Speaker 5: You're either a Hall of Famer or you suck.
Speaker 8: And that's what it always comes down to this time
Speaker 8: of your quarterbacks, there is no in between, and that
Speaker 8: quite honestly, I think that that discussion stems from the
Speaker 8: fact that I don't know if people really ever know
Speaker 8: what the hell they really think about quarterbacks because it's
Speaker 8: such a dependent position and it's so hard to get
Speaker 8: your arms around it.
Speaker 5: Shador is very smart. He can process like hell.
Speaker 8: He's a good leader, he's got good feet in the pocket,
Speaker 8: he throws a great ball, he has a lot of anticipation.
Speaker 5: And he's tough as hell. He got the crap bait
Speaker 5: at him in at Colorado.
Speaker 8: Ye, I was at games and calling games where I'm
Speaker 8: sitting there looking at Dion, who is like pleading with
Speaker 8: this son throw the ball away or pleading with officer coordinator,
Speaker 8: run the ball.
Speaker 5: My son's getting murdered out here.
Speaker 2: He'll be fine, They'll be just Daniel Jones just signed
Speaker 2: with the Colts.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Is he going in thinking he gets to compete for
Speaker 2: that job?
Speaker 5: There's no question.
Speaker 8: I mean, why else would you switch teams at this
Speaker 8: point considering what you have in Minnesota in terms of
Speaker 8: the weapons that they have, the coaching staff. And I'm
Speaker 8: not taking anything away from Shane Stichen because a lot
Speaker 8: of respect for shame. Daniel Jones is looking for an
Speaker 8: opportunity to really compete, to play, and you're not going
Speaker 8: to tell me otherwise that the people in Indianapolis didn't
Speaker 8: tell him that you are going to have a chance
Speaker 8: to compete. We want somebody to push Anthony and if
Speaker 8: you beat him out, you beat him out, simple as that.
Speaker 8: That isn't happening in Minnesota. They are trying to get
Speaker 8: JJ ready to play this year. They're not going to
Speaker 8: force it, but they're trying to get him ready to play.
Speaker 8: The way he looked the last offseason and the way
Speaker 8: he looked in the first preseason game against the Raiders,
Speaker 8: told you, this kid's developmental arc is going to go
Speaker 8: straight up. There's a reason why they drafted him tenth. Overall,
Speaker 8: it reminds me a little bit of the way Kansas
Speaker 8: City was to bring along Patrick when they had Alex
Speaker 8: Smith there. The only thing that derailed things is that
Speaker 8: he got hurt, is that JJ got hurt. Daniel knows
Speaker 8: that he was there every day. He knows how they
Speaker 8: feel about him. He knows he doesn't really have a
Speaker 8: chance to start there.
Speaker 5: If j JJ's n's fine, it's over.
Speaker 8: That's why you went to Indy. And if I'm Anthony
Speaker 8: Richardson right now, what I'm really interested to see is
Speaker 8: how he responds Dan to this. How does he respond?
Speaker 8: It's gonna be I hate it for the kid. It's
Speaker 8: gonna be so hard for him to ever shake the
Speaker 8: stigma that's gonna follow him, the story that's gonna follow
Speaker 8: him because of that one decision he made down there
Speaker 8: in Houston.
Speaker 2: How many years did you play defensive back?
Speaker 5: Seven?
Speaker 2: Okay, how many? Give me the number of quarterbacks that
Speaker 2: actually made you nervous. I don't want to stay scared.
Speaker 5: You can say scared.
Speaker 2: Who scared you? When you go, oh my god, we're
Speaker 2: playing him.
Speaker 8: John Elway because he had TD with him, had Rod Smith,
Speaker 8: had Shannon Sharp, offensive line, had Tom Nalan, Mark Schlair,
Speaker 8: Dan Neil Tony Jones, and that that play action passing
Speaker 8: game was just so ridiculously good. That was a year
Speaker 8: the TD went for two thousand and it was just like,
Speaker 8: as a safety, I was like, I know, I got
Speaker 8: to get up here and support this run because when
Speaker 8: this guy starts going downhill, it's over, and these linemen
Speaker 8: start getting up on it's over. And I did that
Speaker 8: one time early in the game in el Way pulled
Speaker 8: that thing out of there and launched it.
Speaker 5: And I'm telling you, in mid play, you can tell
Speaker 5: I can tell you. You can already guess the words
Speaker 5: that were coming out of my mouth.
Speaker 8: Oh oh yeah, all of them, f words everything.
Speaker 6: The thing.
Speaker 8: The only thing that saved me, honestly was Charles Woodson
Speaker 8: was the corner and he broke the play up and
Speaker 8: I remember jogging back to the huddle and I was like,
Speaker 8: and he was, hey, you know, but yeah, l Way, Marino,
Speaker 8: I got to play against Danny when he was when
Speaker 8: he had Mark Duper and Mark Clayton and Keith Jackson
Speaker 8: and those guys down in Miami.
Speaker 5: He came out, first play of the game.
Speaker 8: He comes out and he was standing there at the
Speaker 8: line and he looks at me and he winked, and
Speaker 8: I went, what.
Speaker 5: Does that mean? Does he mean? Does that mean I
Speaker 5: found my guy?
Speaker 6: What does that mean?
Speaker 5: You know, hail to Pitt?
Speaker 4: What does that mean?
Speaker 5: Man? But yeah, those dudes were Steve.
Speaker 8: Oh you know what I would be It would be
Speaker 8: disrespectful for me to dismiss Steve Young, Steve when he
Speaker 8: was when they were in San Francisco. I played against
Speaker 8: him when I was in when I was in Atlanta,
Speaker 8: and when I was in Cleveland. They had it rolling
Speaker 8: at that time, Dan, I mean they had it rolling.
Speaker 8: Steve was so mobile and so fast, and Brent Jones
Speaker 8: was so crafty, and they had Jerry and they had
Speaker 8: John Taylor and Ricky Waters and it.
Speaker 5: Was just like, I mean, it was a come on,
Speaker 5: this isn't fair. It's not fair. So yeah, I got
Speaker 5: to play against some great ones, man.
Speaker 8: I mean, so much respect for those guys where you
Speaker 8: literally were like I can't make a mistake.
Speaker 5: I can't. And even if you and even if you
Speaker 5: were perfect, sometimes it just didn't matter.
Speaker 2: Always great to spend time. I know it's a busy
Speaker 2: time for you, but thanks for carving out. Of course
Speaker 2: a few minutes, buddy always man.
Speaker 5: Thanks